Tis I, Lord Podcast. Are you yearning to equip yourself with the confidence to record?
Elijah, the skilled podcast professional, is preparing himself for a tale of tools and
skill that only a mighty podcaster may employ in one's podcast journey. Elijah, I do believe
that we shall teach our weary wanderer the confidence that they strive to achieve. Shall
we start a podcast? We shall. It's settled. Let's start a podcast.
Alyssa is the same person, but better than me. Is that the truth? You're a podcast producer.
You have a legit business doing this, kind of like what I do. And I thought it'd be cool
to put our dukes up to battle, to go toe to toe to see what the differences are between
podcast producers or agencies or what have you. So I hope you're up for it.
I am.
Good. That's solid confidence. Two words, confident. Bring it. I love it. So you dance
on the side, Alyssa. This is a hobby of yours.
So I wouldn't say it's a hobby. This business takes up a large chunk of what I do, but I
am a multi, very, very multi-passionate person. And one of those passions is dance. I'm a
professional dancer in the evening slash in the daytime if I'm doing choreography. I also
sing and I act. I went to school for the arts. That's kind of where this all started. And
to me, podcasting is just another creative medium. And that's kind of where this all
came to be.
You seem to have the business side of things down, where I honestly forgot 10 minutes before
a podcast because of my day job, getting focused and getting excited. And thankfully, Alyssa
was kind enough to tag me on the ground. I'm like, ah, I got 10 minutes. Is it just a neat
skill that you have to go past the creative wisdom and magic that you have to really nail
down that organization, that social marketing that you seem to be really good at and the
business stuff?
Well, first of all, thank you for the social marketing side of things. I will tell you
a secret behind that in a bit. But Alyssa tells all. I will say though that I'm very
lucky. I've grown up in a family of entrepreneurs. So I guess I've always been surrounded by
the possibility of running your own thing and just letting that be. However, I will
say that the actual business side of things is I don't want to say that it's not my burning
passion. I do love creating and I love helping other people create. But the actual business
side of stuff like the accounting and all the things that create the actual business,
that's not the stuff that I love to do, but I do do it. And I guess I found a system that
works for me that still feels fun and creative in a way. Because I feel like that's where
my brain really is lit on fire. But I will say when it comes to the social marketing
stuff, because I know we were kind of talking about that before we hit record, I know that
it's really important nowadays that your Instagram is an extension of your website and it's basically
your portfolio. And specifically, because I work with other business owners that want
to create podcasts as kind of my niche, they really like to hire based on who you are as
a person. So I'm like, okay, well, how can I show my personality without me starting
another podcast and without me needing to run another thing on top of everything else
that I do? And I was like, okay, so social media, I have to double down on this. I will
say that my secret is recently, super recently, I have brought on a social media marketer
to help me with my Instagram. So it's half run by me, half run by this business that
I work with. And she's really awesome. And we work in tandem. So you know, she's learning
a lot about podcasting and audio as I'm, you know, helping her write the content for it.
And then she creates these awesome graphics and it kind of has worked out really well.
She struggles as a podcaster, hobbyist or getting started. There's usually a low budget.
There's usually not a lot of cash flow at the beginning. So how long in your podcast
business did it take you to realize and be able to afford someone to just grind through
social for you?
Yeah. I will say that it yeah, in the beginning, especially for a podcaster who's starting
from they don't have any following it, it takes time. And as a producer too, it takes
time to build a client base. However, I was in a very, very lucky position. And the very
first client that I signed loved me very much. And was very open to talking about my business
and spreading the word to her friends who also run businesses and a lot of them were
looking to start podcasts. So my client base grew via word of mouth in the beginning at
a rate that honestly, if I'm being honest with myself, I was not expecting at all. I
didn't have the framework for it. And all of a sudden I was like juggling 10 balls in
the air. And I was like, how do I do this? How do I run a business that has this many
clients with one person? So I am lucky on that side of things. And that's kind of where
the everything I kind of had a little fire lit under me that had to get the business
going so I could have the money to get social marketing going.
To avoid the artificial pity for me as I'm doing the hard way, if I may, that I've realized
I didn't have too much luck just starting out on the professional side, but I'm doing
this as an enthusiast for 20 years. I didn't have a DNA, entrepreneurism in my family genetics.
So here I am trying to grind and figure things out on the, I guess the fly, right? The Reddit
posts or the Facebooks or the Googles. What advice do you have to keep things straight
and organized to kind of look like you know what you're doing?
Well, I mean, if I'm being honest, I don't think anyone really knows what they're doing.
And I think that's the secret sauce to everything is once you realize that you're not alone
and feeling like everything's always kind of a little bit disorganized, you're already
halfway there. In tandem with that, I write everything down. There is not ever a notepad
that's not in my back pocket or my notes app open on my phone. Because if I have an idea,
I write it down. If I need to get something done, I write it down. And that's just how
I keep myself on track. On top of, I will say the third thing, as I'm thinking about
this as I go, is just having a really clear, concise schedule for yourself that keeps you
on track.
I like yelling into my iPhone like, Siri, you got to remind me of this. And it's like,
I don't understand what you just said. And it's like, I just forgot. And so notepad for
me for the win.
Yeah. Hey, Siri. Oh, actually, I shouldn't have even said that. I might set my phone
off. But I use it all the time.
If you're listening, you have an iPhone. Sorry, not sorry. Whoopsies. We'll just say, hey,
Google for fun, right? Just to make everybody happy.
Everyone's running around their house right now.
Ah, that's all. If I could start a podcast just to give people the impression that their
devices are always listening, I'd be okay for that.
That would actually be kind of funny. That'd be a great concept for a show.
I'm glad that two creatives just willy nilly just whatever will wing it, have some fun,
which is good. But some things aren't fun when you have to stop a podcast. Like, whose
Lynn is it anyway? I butchered the title. Who's Lynn? I want to say line, Alyssa. You're
throwing me. Your last name is Lynn. Whose Lynn is it anyway? Third time's a charm. It's
a little bit of improv. Can you give me a bit of a run through about the podcast that
you had? As I've had many that have faltered.
Why did you start it and stop it? How about we start there?
Yeah. So my sister, who is like my best best friend, she's my older sister, Vanessa, her
and I are have been best friends since the day I was born. And we've always talked about,
oh, we should start a podcast. Oh, we're so funny. We talk about all these things at the
time. We're just like, you know, patting ourselves on the back. And I will say we did not hop
on the the walk down, you know, podcast train that so many people did, because we actually
did have the front. Would you hear that? That was a podcast delivery. Is that what that
was? Oh, maybe it was. OK, it's checking. I'm not sure. Not sure how efficient my mic
is being today. What was I saying? I was saying this is your best friend. Thank you. Vanessa
is my best friend. And we were had the framework for the show kind of going before everything
went down and everyone kind of had to go into hiding in their houses and had nothing to
do but start podcasts. So when we found ourselves with all the extra time, we were like, well,
I guess we're I guess we're going to launch this thing like might as well. It's kind of
it was just a fun pipe dream, honestly. And nothing about it at that time was serious.
I that's really where I learned a lot about podcasts that kind of later turned into this
business for me now. Right. But that's where I learned a lot of the I'll say the nitty
gritty, like the smaller details of really how to run a show. And it was through trial
and error. That show is what gave me the foundation that I stand on now, because I learned so
much just from doing things wrong. And I had we had a very, very, very small audience.
But oddly, a really dedicated listener base, which was kind of funny, like it wouldn't
grow any more than it reached like 100, 100 downloads every episode, which is still pretty
considerable, I would say for someone that didn't have any, you know, previous following,
but it wouldn't grow any further. But the people that were listening to it still wanted
more. So after I think we did two seasons, we were like, OK, you know what, we're talking
about nothing at this point. Let's just like we're just we're just cutting this where it
where it is. And it was a lot of fun. But yeah, through trial and error on that show
is what got me to where I am today. I fully fully believe that.
I did Internet radio station in like 2004 when nobody knew what Yahoo Music was. Sorry
if I'm that old. But and then I got into music. I love music. I write on. And then I got a
90s looking website that was terrible. But I was proud of it because I did it. And then
there was that was called My Own Spin. And then I did Nerdy by Nature, which was kind
of like exploring all these nerdy topics to make them just simple and relative or relatable
because people it's boring to talk about nerdy things. I've been there to think it is. No.
OK. Sorry. Sorry to interrupt you. But I just I want to counter that because I'm I'm so
passionate about people calling things nerdy. And maybe it's because I grew up in arts kids.
So like I was always kind of an outcast or whatever. But to me, if something is worth
like quote unquote nerding out about, it just means that it's cool enough to be interested
in.
Is that how you niche down in a podcast that you take something that you're nerding out
about or completely obsessed and amirated with and just record?
Yeah, honestly, that's what I would say. I mean, for me specifically, because I work
with with other business owners, I do work with other podcasters. But the main base of
my client base is other business owners. It's that in tandem with what's going to help them
grow as a business. But yeah, I would say if you're if you're just looking for a hobby
show 100 percent, you need to figure out the thing that you can't shut up about basically.
And then then you turn on a microphone and you press record.
Some people get bored of the social media posts. Oh, this is so much work. But I could
just talk on and on and on. And maybe you can edit a few things or just leave it because
that's entertaining to hear that. Oh, my God, I can't believe I just said that stuff. So
just do it. See what happens. And then you can learn like Alyssa did from your 100 listeners
to be super interested in engaging, but something to learn from and then kind of move on. Cool.
Yeah. Since you're nerdy, I'm really curious because I've spent way too long as an enthusiast,
I've said like 20 years or so went to school for radio. So there might be a difference
between the tech stack that we use. So I'm going to play a little game called Versus because
you like improv, hopefully truthful and not just zany and crazy, but whatever works. I'll
just go down a list of stuff. We'll see what what you do, what I do. And then we'll kind
of compare notes and dive into that tech stack of yours. Oh, OK. Sounds good. Awesome. So
a microphone of yours. OK, so what I'm currently using right now is an Audio Technica MB. However,
I do have another microphone that I use sometimes. And it's I would not recommend it. It was
a cheap one off Amazon that I found ages ago. What is it? I need to know now. You can't
use it. It was called like Audio Zing or something like that. It was like a random some random.
It was like super discounted. And I bought it more for the look of it because I needed
to fit in a specific space at the time. But I use this one. This is Audio Technica is
my go to. That RGB is addicting, is it not? Lights up and flashes and does all these things
while you're recording. It's fantastic. Yeah, it's nice. So Audio Technica, I have the Shure
SM58 because it seemed to be fun as a radio nerd. It was a good idea. How about Mac or
PC? What's in your wheelhouse? Oh, you can tell me you have a backup crappy PC and you
have an awesome Mac. Actually, no. The truth is, if I'm being honest with myself, I currently
have a crappy Mac, which is it's working for me. But I'm actually at a point right now
where I need to upgrade my computer. And I'm walking that line of of maybe going over to
PC because it offers me a little bit more customization as someone that runs a business
that relies heavily on tech. But I would say right now I'm a Mac person just for ease of
use. Because I'm newer to the entrepreneurial game, I'm on a PC with Audition. So one, I'm
a baller. I'm getting to at least a Lyssa level. Then I can get my GarageBand and iMac
one day soon. GarageBand is not all I would say that it's I mean, for podcasting, it's
good. I would say that GarageBand for podcasting is good. But it's it's it's really made for
making music, you know. Do you prefer Audacity or Audition or other? Actually, there is a
new platform, which maybe if you if you've not heard about this, I'm going to impart
some knowledge on you. There's a new platform called Descript that I have found recently
and I have fallen in love with. And it works really well for podcasts. Basically, you can
edit your show like it's a document, like it's a word document. I'm going to come back
to that because I have some thoughts. But this interesting that you got into that. Do
you use Trello or Notion? Or do you just stick to the old fashioned notepad as you mentioned?
I've used both of them in the past and they're both great platforms, but I actually prefer
a platform called Asana. So I'll raise you a third there. Strike note, this terrible.
It's totally fine. And still the knowledge on me, because that's what it's all about.
Can you be a podcaster that's nerdy or sexy? Or do you have a preference? What do you mean
like and how you how you portray yourself? portray yourself, image, topics, sex cell
or cell topics? I think the stereotype with podcasts would be the nerd. However, I think
there's a space for both personally. I mean, if you look at like a show as big as Call
Her Daddy, like that started as a sexy podcast, like an after hours show kind of thing, right?
And there's definitely space for both. I thought there's a podcast that I ran into on the gram
about professional workers, sex workers, if that's allowed to be said. And I thought that
was really interesting how these female entrepreneurs didn't take crap from anyone. They figured
it out how to get that business mentality through. And it was done right and done with
all the rules and safety nets. It was actually really eye opening. Be like, wow, this is
really cool thing that entrepreneurial women did when business owners were all men. So
I'm going to go with the sexy part, if I may. Yeah, no, that's no, I 100% agree with that.
I will say, though, I think the only reason I think I'm leaning more towards a nerdy thing.
The only reason why I say that, though, is because I think people who are quote unquote
nerdy about a topic have found more success over time because people who are also interested
in that topic don't usually have the space to geek out about the things they love. So
then they find a podcast that has a community, right? That talks about whatever, whatever
maybe their, you know, their heart desires as far as nerdy stuff goes.
And speaking for fellow nerds, I don't have a lot of friends, so I like to yell at my
podcast as if I'm talking with them. They don't know it yet. We're best friends, but
that really works. Bring home your point. Oh, no, absolutely. I do the same thing. I
think everyone does secretly. Yeah. Do you prefer a super professional on the Gram or
the podcast, a business podcast, super pro, or do you prefer to be swearing out there
and crazy when you're listening to podcasts? Once again, I think it's it's like time and
place. Me personally, I'm a sweary person. I'm not I'm not even going to I'm not going
to sugarcoat it. I love a good swear word. I think it drives a point home like you would
not believe. But again, I think it's time and place who you're interviewing, you know,
what your topic is about. And yeah, I've done right. I love the loose, wild and fast conversations
that people have when they're not talking over each other. They're not battling on for
hours. Say a couple of curse words or a naughty story. It's kind of interesting because it
really gets on a personal level. People are being real, which I kind of like. And I'll
put up with a bunch of swears and words that I shouldn't say in front of HR. So it works.
There you go, especially in front of HR. Yeah. So they come back to Descript. I've used it
a bit. It's I'm a purist when it comes to audio editing. So that's part of the scary
story. I think it's great as a sidekick. But getting rid of some of the ums and ahs, have
you found it to be OK? I find what I'm meaning is that some of the words will get clipped
off or things like that. So is there a tool that you have to get back into? Or do you
kind of just set the expectation for someone that, you know, this is more of a business
and you're kind of just make you a little more free or not super commercial sounding?
That's a good question. I so I actually recently switched over to Descript. I was editing on
GarageBand for a while and I did test out a few other platforms. I just use GarageBand
because it was available to me with my Mac. But then when I found Descript specifically
because I my clients have been working with them for a while. I know, I know them. I know
how they talk now. And I found that the longer I'm with a client, the more I can predict
exactly how something is going to sound. And with Descript, with that, you're talking about
the the word filter. Basically, you can go out and and filter out any filler words. You
can select specific words. So for example, if I have a client of mine, she likes to say,
um, you know, a lot. But everything else is it's pretty natural. Maybe she says it once
or twice in a in an episode, I can go and I can filter out just those, um, you know,
right. And I have found sometimes it does get tricky. But I have a system that works
where I kind of it's tedious, but I think it's worth it. Go through, I filter everything
out and then I go back and I listen to all the edits and the cuts to make sure that nothing
gets cut off. So it doesn't sound like it's been edited. It still sounds natural. But
I try to leave in some of those filler words. So it still sounds like a conversation. Do
you find that people come to you and say, well, you're not a real podcast producer if
you're not using those truest tools, or do you just want to give them the finger?
I will say I actually haven't had anyone question my my editing ability yet. And I think at
least through my just I guess life experience in general, I have always let my work speak
for itself. If anyone has ever asked about my business or anything, it's always based
on send me an episode you've edited, send me a few get what your portfolio like, and
I send them my episodes ones that I'm really, really proud of, or maybe with really poignant
guests. And, and I've never had anyone question otherwise. But I will say, though, I think
there's also a caveat to that. Because typically speaking, people who are looking to hire a
podcast producer don't usually have as much technical know how to even have that question
available to them.
Interesting. Yeah, pick up from that. Do you charge less because you use a tool that does
most work for you? Or do you charge the same amount because you've learned the skills to
make it work, make the tool work with you and sound the best.
That's also a very good question as well. I am I would say I charge less compared to
other producers in the market who have also been doing this a lot longer than I have like
my business is it's like a two year old little baby at this point, right? A very, very busy
little baby, but two years old, nonetheless. And I use Descript mainly, but it's not the
only tool that I use. And I'm so I kind of use it in tandem again with garageband, like
you said, because I do prefer to have the audio set up to be able to really like see
everything in front of me. But I will I don't want to knock Descript because as a company,
they are really working hard to level up their platform literally every single day when I
go in to use it. There is a we've got a new version press restart. And they're constantly
adding new things to the platform. So I think they're trying to take a lot of feedback from
from people like me who use it a lot and turn it into this this platform that kind of does
both.
For fellow nerds, they're on Discord. They have a weekly thing they're talking about.
Hey, let's just talk about the platform. What do you want to learn? What do you want to
hear about? What do you want to know? And that doesn't happen with a lot of tools, especially
if you're on a like $20 subscription a month. There's not a lot of overhead funds, right?
For all these people to sit there and say, Hey, we're just going to chat for an hour
about these random people who are knocking AI because they're afraid to change. So kudos.
That's huge. And new tech isn't going to be perfect overnight. There's just a lot of mental
pressure, I think, from human beings to say, Hey, we have two hands, we're capable. But
are you really and do you really want to spend all that time going through those ums and
ahs and finding them when you can have four or five clients that just want a podcast that
sounds good? That just that covers the podcast basics, not the glorified audio dramas, right?
So maybe there's a point. Maybe it's the time to shift focus and try something new.
Yeah, for sure. I will say too, sorry, just last point on this, because I'm I find this
this topic so interesting, especially like picking what editing software you use. Descript
has helped me a lot as a producer, really make sure that the story is being told in
a clear, concise way. Whereas, you know, like on GarageBand, you can't see the words in
front of you, right? So you can't really make sure that that thing's being carried out.
But I personally, I think creatively, it helps my clients, you know, tell the story beginning
to end in a way that's really digestible for their audience.
And if they're not using Descript, there's a ton of other transcript tools, unfortunately,
just another step, right? And so that's an extra piece. But never thought about that,
because I always listen to the story with my ears first, because that's how I just learned
how to do things. You coming into it, you're looking with, dare I say you're looking at
a podcast with your eyes first, you read the script, make it flow. And that's what works
for you, like reading a book. So that's pretty cool that you you come up with that, because
then you really can understand the flow is as boring. Am I falling asleep? Do I need
toothpicks in my eyes to get through this? Because people don't realize they don't have
the self awareness to go, this podcast isn't great, just because your heart is in it, you
love it. They don't want to throw it away like a bad axe just keeps coming at you every
Saturday, or showing up at your house. You don't want that. You gotta move on, right?
Yeah, you got to be willing to zoom out sometimes. Yeah, I try to zoom out, but always hyper
focused on this stuff. And I'm glad that you're getting into it and open to the questions
because so many people are thinking, I don't I don't know if that's really a good idea.
It especially with audacity, I use that for so long, because I got used to it. It's a
great tool, handy, it was great. And then I go to audition. And there's a bit of AI built
in that, right? So you know, half of my workflow is gone, because I'm not having to do everything
manually. So if I bump up to Descript more often, maybe I should give it a second chance.
Maybe I don't know, they just did. They they've now bought out squadcast, which is like a
whole other camera, it's gonna be a whole other episode, honestly, because that's like
a this week in podcast news thing. But they just bought out squadcast, which is also the
platform that I used to record on. And it has now changed the game as well. I really
do think in terms of AI, I think we're going to start to see it trickling into almost every
single platform, even garageband. Like I like why can't they make AI drums? Right?
It's possible just have to figure it out. Can I ask what the difference or what the
best thing that you like about your streaming tool because I'm using Streamyard. Some people
use Riverside for the remote podcast, the video stuff. What features are you into?
Yeah. Well, I'll be honest with you. The main thing that I was like, yep, squadcast. That's
the one is because as a podcast producer, I can manage multiple shows at once. And the
layout of managing multiple shows is really streamlined and really nice, especially because
a lot of the clients that I work with, it's not just working with them, it's working with
them and their team of their business. So I have my podcast host from show number one,
but I also have their social media manager and their video editor and all these other
things that go in tandem with the show that I'm working with. So they have easy access
to the files. And that's really why squadcast was kind of the be all end all for me.
But on top of that, it records, oops, it records in individual screens. So it allows them to
use the content again on Instagram and recycling that content is really useful for business
owners that have podcasts.
People have question about descriptor squadcast, where they go to find you.
If they've got questions, write about that. That would be at the podcast producer on Instagram.
And then if you're checking out my website, it would be the podcast producer, bizbiz.com.
Cool. I promised to get into it before we got going, but Alyssa, we got into some serious
conversation and just kind of went to it. You were excited. I was excited. We slapped
our microphones. The doorbells were ringing. It was pure pandemonium. I really enjoyed
this. Do you have any wise words of wisdom? Final thoughts from the entrepreneur master,
the podcast producer herself? How do you get started on a podcast? What should you avoid?
Maybe a couple of things for us.
My one major piece of advice that I give everyone, especially if you're in the creation stage,
you haven't really, like it hasn't launched yet or anything along those lines, comes more
from the creative side of me. And that is don't knock any idea. Write everything down,
let everything be a possibility and let it play out until it's a hell no. If I can say
hell no, I think that's not considered explicit. But yeah, that's, I think in the beginning,
a lot of people, they get stuck in what I call analysis paralysis because there is so
much information online. I'm very aware that I'm one of those people online that shares
information about how to start a podcast. But it's really easy if you feel like you
don't have the technical know-how of how to run a show to get scared and then just completely
get cold feet and back off. So take it one step at a time, but most importantly, write
everything down. Don't knock any idea. Let everything be a fully fledged thought before
you go, okay, you know what? I don't think this is going to work.
And especially if there's three bazillion crime podcasts, still record it anyway, because
half of the time people will just dive and they'll, off they go, quit after six months.
So you could have a different angle. You could have a different guest. You could have different
cases. Like there's so much crime history. Just do it. Or if your family says that you're
a live 12 year old that loves fart jokes, don't roll it out because somebody out there
on the internet is going to love the bathroom humor.
Yeah, no, absolutely. And no, like what you're getting at, which is another thing that I
always tell everyone is that no one can tell your story the way that you tell it. Even
if it's been told before how you deliver your content is what makes your show your show.
That in tandem with the fact that a podcasting is a long game. It's not going to happen in
six months, but if you give it a year, you're probably, like you said, you're probably going
to outlast a lot of the other shows that are online.
We got a little crash course, 30 minutes of Alyssa's the podcast producer story, but you're
clearly going to have to check her out in the gram, the show notes, description, all
that. In case you forget your memories, like 27 minutes long, you still get the information.
So here we are sharing your story, having a great time and thanks for joining me. Appreciate
this.
Thank you.
Let's start a podcast.